Casio unveils business-oriented Paper Writer 10-inch tablet, to be released this month in Asia

The first thing one probably thinks of when hearing about Casio is watches. What many of you might not know however is that the Japan-based electronics company handles manufacturing of not only watches, but also digital cameras, laptops, mobile phones, and most recently, Android tablets.

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The Paper Writer is one of Casio’s first notable Android tab efforts, and, while the gadget will most likely never see the light of day in the U.S. or Europe, it might actually enjoy some success over in Asia.

We know that the Asian gadget market is a tad different from the Western world, with more focus on functionality and less on bleeding edge power and speed, so the Paper Writer could fit nicely with the needs of business users in Japan, China or Korea.

Set to go out in several slightly different models, the Paper Writer “can scan handwritten documents in one action”. The tab comes with a book cover-like case that offers enough space for fitting a notepad opposite the gadget. By closing the cover, you can scan handwritten docs with the help of the Paper Writer’s 5MP front-facing cam.

If that doesn’t sound incredibly innovative (it’s a tablet with a better front camera than the norm basically), you should know that there’s a bunch of pre-loaded software targeted at helping people that need to scan documents quickly on the go and organize them. The Paper Writer comes with stylus pen support for those that aren’t that keen in using regular paper anymore, but also with a ruggedized surface offering protection against dust, water and drops from 1 m or less.

NFC support with RFID write capability is another cool function that makes the tab stand out of the crowd, while the user-removable battery is a hefty 7,000mAh unit reportedly capable of running for up to 12 hours on a single charge.

The Casio Paper Writer is not a gadget intended for heavy gaming, so you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that it features a dual-core 1.5GHz processor (model yet to be announced), 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of on-board storage. Those aren’t exactly poor specs, but they don’t make the tab a full-fledged high-ender either.

The 5MP front-facing camera is accompanied by an identical rear-facing shooter, while the number of ports is impressive for a tablet, including a microSD and a full SD slot, USB, and full-size HDMI. The 10.1-inch display hasn’t been detailed just yet (other than being called “bright enough to be used outdoors”), while the Android 4.0 ICS out of the box will be most likely heavily customized and tweaked to make the most out of the tablet’s business focus.

To wrap up the spec sheet rather nicely, the Paper Writer will come with WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, but also with 4G LTE in its higher-end flavor. We don’t exactly know what will set the four different Paper Writers apart and how they will be priced, but expect to see them in Japan stores by the end of September.

Anyone impressed by Casio’s latest dive in the Android “ocean”? Would you like to see more of the company’s ruggedized and extra functional tablets outside Asia soon?